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Been watching Tagalog movies as of late. Started with Talk Back And You're Dead last month with my sister and her kids, who all got kinda mad at me because the kids thought it was horror while my sister thought it was a foreign movie.

And then here comes Dementia with all its good reviews, not to mention it's a Nora Aunor-starrer. I'm also a fan of Jun Lana and because he produced the film and it's the first directorial job of his partner, Perci Intalan, who also got rave reviews, I knew I should really watch it.

Nora was superb as Mara, an old woman suffering from dementia, who started seeing a ghost when she was brought back to her ancestreal home in the province. I've never been a diehard fan of the superstar but I am aware of how she always gets commended for her expressive eyes.

True enough, those eyes conveyed a lot of emotions in Dementia, especially that she had very few speaking lines in the movie. In one scene that showed a very tight shot of just her face, she shifted emotions - from being sad one moment to being angry the next and then to being afraid - without any dialogue.

Some scenes have been cut, though, like the night scene where Mara (Aunor) went out of the house and Rachel (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) followed her. It's shown in the trailers but didn't get to see it in the movie.

Speaking of Jasmine, she was very effective in her role as a young lady who grew up in the US and who hates being in the province. She throws her lines better than her sister, Anne, and gives out a more natural acting.

Jeric Gonzales was charming as the promdi boy, Vincent, and his acting was far better than when I last saw him in a TV series. I actually thought I'd cringe when I get to see him in this movie, but I actually didn't. I even wished he would be given more serious acting projects by his home network, or if not, I hope he transfers to the better network after his current contract expires.

Bing Loyzaga, who played the cousin of Mara who decided to bring her back to Batanes with hopes that it would bring back her memory, was beautiful and still has it after years of not being in the limelight. Yul Servo as her husband was also good but I couldn't help but think of Piolo Pascual whenever he's on the screen because of malicious rumors about them that has circulated before.

Chynna Ortaleza as Olivia/ghost was very scary. I wouldn't want to see her in person wearing a wedding gown especially at night.

Meanwhile, cinematography was very good. The mood was also the same all throughout the movie like it's always gloomy in Batanes. The roads, the mountains made me want to hike again and be one with nature as often as I can.

Good news to pet owners, a restaurant that caters to pets and their humans now exists in San Juan.

I'm fond of bringing Princess along with me whenever I can, but dining out more often than not proves to be a problem.
Most restos don't allow pets inside their establishment which means I have to find one with al fresco dining and endure the heat outside.

And then there's also the problem of Princess barking or looking at me with that "paawa" look while I eat.

But then those living in San Juan near Whole Pet Kitchen are so lucky because the newly-opened resto serves both pets and humans!

According to GMA News, "the restaurant serves foods made with human-grade ingredients, which are both edible for humans and their pets."

This is something every commercial area needs, no? So we can bond with our pets more often.

Accordingto their Facebook page, "Whole Pet Kitchen: Pet Deli & Bark-ery is the 1st natural pet bakery and dog cafe in the Philippines that provides a great selection of natural, homemade pet food and treats that are healthy and free of harmful preservatives, colors and flavors."

They serve "Muffins, Pupcakes, Pet Pastries, Biscotti, Savory dishes and Biscuits made with premium, all-natural ingredients that are safe for pets."

I decided to buy myself a bike last April so I can use it to commute to and from my office. I didn't know the little folding bike will give me a new hobby that will not only suffice my crave for adrenaline, but will also be beneficial to my health.

I originally wanted to buy a Dahon SUV because it is the cheapest from the brand, but the last piece R.O.X. in Bonifacio High Street had when we got there that day was already being tuned for another customer.

PLDT MyDSL has failed me in the past, but nothing as long a time as the last one which started a day or two before New Year’s Eve.

Webpages would fail to load, or stop while trying to reach googleapis.com. Publishing blog posts through Windows Live Writer was next to impossible; not even through the Blogger-droid app on my Android phone.

After a few days of that, I found a way around to somehow get to the websites I was trying to visit. Once the status bar of my browser takes at least 5 seconds saying it’s connecting to googleapis.com, google fonts, or anything that says google, I would press the escape key or click the stop icon. The page would then skip that google thing and continue loading the website.

I initially thought it was my router because one night (after several days of turmoil), I decided to do a stand-alone connection. I disconnected the modem from the router and connected it directly to my netbook. The connection went smoothly so I immediately scouted for a new router, blaming my current one.

I almost bought one, but the night before my planned trip to my suki sales rep in SM Bicutan, I decided to do a stand-alone connection again. Lo and behold, I had the same slow connection as when I was using the router!

Good thing there are forums, though. And I learned that I wasn’t the only one experiencing the same troubles. And if the problem is on PLDT’s end, there’s no use wasting my time waiting for a customer service representative to answer my 172 call.

My connection, however, is already stable for two days now. But it’s just so irritating that PLDT has never learned to give advisories to their customers about their network troubles. Haven’t it occurred to them that giving out advisories would lessen the callers complaining on their hotlines?

Anyway, yes, I’m still on the old modem. I’m even using a very old Xyzel modem when almost all of the PLDT MyDSL subscribers in my area already have the modem+wifi router unit.

Been a subscriber for 11 years now. And I’m even willing to keep on using the old modem if PLDT would transfer my connection to their new platform. I’m still on their very first platform (Legacy) that’s why my speed cap is still 2.5mbps despite paying P4k (Small Biz Lite) for the DSL service alone.

For those of you who plan your vacay early, here's the list of National Holidays for 2014:

Regular Holiday:
January 1 - New Year's Day
April 9 - Araw Ng Kagitingan
April 17 - Maundy Thursday
April 18 - Good Friday
May 1 - Labor Day
June 12 - Independence Day
August 25 - National Heroes Day
November 30 - Bonifacio Day
December 25 - Christmas Day
December 30 - Rizal Day

Special (Non-Working) Days:
January 31 - Chinese New Year
April 19 - Black Saturday
August 21 - Ninoy Aquino Day
November 1 - All Saint's Day
December 24 - Additonal Special (Non-Working) Day
December 26 - Additonal Special (Non-Working) Day
December 31 - Last Day of the Year